Lusophony: a continuous research

Lusophony is “a set of Portuguese speakers, and thus as a cultural and linguistic communication set in the field of Portuguese language in all its linguistic variants” (Neusa Bastos, p. 9).

“The ‘us’ from Lusophony is still controversial between academics, because it awakens conflicting positions and ghosts from the past” (Eduardo Namburete, p. 63).

The place of Lusophony is, without a doubt, the place of a “Luso-aphonia”, that is, it is a place especially a place marked by athe lack of knowledge and non-recognition of the communities of this broad geocultural space (Mia Couto, 2009).

The research on Lusophony, with the involvement of the Communication and Society Research Centre (CECS), is born of the project “Lusophone Space – Portuguese language and Lusophone identity”, which follows the constitution of the Federation of Lusophone Associations of Communication Sciences (Lusocom), in 1997, in Lisbon, with the participation of Moisés de Lemos Martins and Aníbal Alves.

In the Lusophone community, which includes more than 200 million speakers, only a minority conceives its sense of belonging through a common language.

The mapping and organization of the research on Communication Sciences implies the creation of a network of scientific cooperation. This procedure is a response to a strategic necessity of having the scientific work recognized by the international scientific community.

Since the I Lusophone Congress of Communication Sciences (I Congress Lusocom) in 1997, the Lusophone community has been developing a set of scientific activities and publications that have contributed to the development of a cooperation network in the various Portuguese-speaking countries.

The minutes of the III Lusophone Congress were published in the 2nd and 3rd issues of the journal Communication and Society, in 2000 and 2003; in 2003 the International Yearbook of Lusophone Communication was also published, in São Paulo, a scientific board of the Federation of Lusophone Associations of Communication Sciences.

Up to 2014, the Lusophone community, mainly constituted by Brazilians, Portuguese, Galician, Mozambican, Angolan, Cape-Verdean, Guinean, San Tomean, and Timorese, carries out several congresses within Lusocom: VI Lusocom, at the Universidade da Beira Interior, in Covilhã; VII Lusocom, at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; VIII Lusocom, at the Universidade Lusófona, in Lisbon; IX Lusocom, at the Universidade Paulista, in São Paulo; X Lusocom, at the Universidade de Lisboa; XI Lusocom, and at the Universidad de Vigo, in Pontevedra. Between 1997 and 2014, five Lusocom congresses took place in Portugal, three in Brazil, two in Galicia and one in Mozambique.

In 2006, the book Portuguese Language – Lusophone Reflections (portuguese: "Língua Portuguesa – Reflexões Lusófonas") was published.

From the point of view of Communication Sciences, the Lusophone space seemed to constitute a promising research object, though volatile. In an increasingly globalized world, the Lusophone space, in general, and the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), in particular, were and are still seen as having the potential to contribute to the development of alternative perspectives about the role of politics and media discourses on the (re)construction of Lusophone identities.

In continuity with these partnerships, the University of Minho hosted the International Seminar “Communication and Society” in 2005, and the International Conference “Intercultural Communication: Perspectives, Dilemmas and Challenges” in 2008.